Military recruitment stable despite draw down

By
Adriana Adkins, The Morning Journal

and
Elizabeth Lundblad, The News-Herald

Friday, December 13, 2013

As a new year approaches, local military recruitment officials are discussing the benefits of enlisting and how recruitment has been nationally and in Northeast Ohio.
Working from the Armed Forces Recruitment Center, 7535 Mentor Ave. in Mentor, Marine Corps Recruiter Sergeant Matthew Charvat said most of the recruits the office sees come from a mix of places, including high school visits, walk-ins and, more often than one would expect, chance encounters on the street.
“There’s a certain type of branch out there for each individual. You just have to figure out what it is,” he said. “Some people are drawn to one (service) by family or maybe it’s just something they’ve seen growing up, maybe in commercials or just an image of what a Marine is like or something.”
The U.S. military services recruit on two fronts, active duty service and reserve service. National recruitment numbers released Nov. 19 by the U.S. Department of Defense indicate all four active services met or exceeded accession goals for fiscal 2013.
Strong retention numbers in active duty servicemen and women were seen in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps during the final month of Fiscal Year 2013, according to a defense department news release. The Navy showed strong gains in retention for mid-career and career categories.
In the reserve recruiting sector, four of six services met or exceeded fiscal-year-to-date 2013 accession goals, with the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard falling short by 3,689 and 351, respectively. All of the reserve components met attrition goals.
Officials say the numbers are strong and stable despite a draw down of forces across the board, particularly noticeable in the Army, which is in the process of ending its mission in Afghanistan by December 2014.
Locally, however, recruiters say the draw down isn’t an issue per se when it comes to enlisting new members.
“(Recruitment goals) are something that vary month to month between different services,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jason Laser, the center commander for the Army recruiting office in Mentor. “I guess to feel it at our level isn’t something that occurs ... They take a look at what the Army needs and what areas have the higher propensity for enlistments and things like that.”
With the Marines, Charvat said a few years ago the Corps had an active force of 202,000, but the leadership has publicly stated that it is supposed to go down to 176,000 to 178,000.
“A lot of people say well then why is there still recruiting if there are cuts being made?” he said. “The way it works is that the Marine Corps is a fairly young branch, and it’s about a 25 percent total retention. If four Marines want to stay in, the Marine Corps is only going to keep one of those individuals to make it a career. The other three are going to have to get out or join another branch.”
Laser, the Army recruiter, said a typical prospective recruit will visit two or three services when visiting the recruiting office. All four branches have offices in the Mentor recruitment center.
“Normally they’ve eliminated one or two services in their heads just based on personal preference,” he said. “(The Army) is a little different in terms of age bracket that we can take. The other services are from 17 to 29, our school is all the way up to prior to your 35th birthday. Obviously, for lack of a better term, there’s an emphasis on that 17 to 24 range, which is the same for all the other services. People coming in younger have the potential for longevity and things like that.”
Charvat and Laser, who recruit from Lake, Ashtabula and Geauga counties, said though most of their recruits fall into the 17-24 age range, they’ve noticed some older individuals taking an interest, even those with college degrees.
Specifically for the Army, Laser said he’s had a lot of interest from people looking to get into careers in the medical or technology fields.
“It’s a pretty good mix around here. I’ve been doing recruiting for eight years in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Ohio. Here especially it’s probably the widest mix of where individuals are generating interest,” Laser said. “Whether it is at high schools, or people walking in the door, at college, or even sometimes through social media.”
Serving Lorain County, Petty Officer Robert Tucker of the U.S. Navy said recruitment has grown locally with 56 people joining last year, up from 36 recruits in 2011.
“We are getting a lot of people from all over the county looking to serve and be a part of something much bigger than themselves,” Tucker said. “It’s wonderful seeing so many young people rise up for the greater good of our nation locally.”
Nationally, the collective number of active sailors enlisted in the U.S. Navy has declined slightly with 318,406 recruited this year, down from 324,209 serving in 2012.
Tucker believes one of the main reasons for the increase in recruitment locally is because more people in Lorain County are looking to take advantage of the Navy’s educational benefits.
“Our primary target is young men and women between 17 and 22 years of age,” he said. “We find this to be the age that most men and women are thinking about their futures and start looking at ways to earn a comfortable living. With many people being laid off throughout the county, there’s no doubt in my mind that a person may choose to enlist simply because the navy will pay for their college education expenses and offer them secure job placement.”
When joining the Navy, Tucker said new recruits have their pick at a variety of jobs ranging anywhere from retail to nuclear engineering.
“Recruitment is just one part of what we do. What a person does after recruitment is a whole different story,” Tucker said.
“The kinds of jobs we offer have the ability to strengthen and discipline, teach a person new skills, and take them all over the world. It’s very rewarding.”

Active Duty
Air Force — 26,275 accessions, with a goal of 26,275
Army — 69,154 accessions, with a goal of 69,000
Marine Corps — 32,215 accessions, with a goal of 32,200
Navy — 40,112 accessions, with a goal of 40,112

Reserve
Air Force Reserve — 7,846 accessions, with a goal of 5,817
Air National Guard — 10,737 accessions, with a goal of 10,500
Army National Guard — 49,299 accessions, with a goal of 49,650
Army Reserve — 26,191 accessions, with a goal of 29,880
Marine Corps Reserve — 8,798 accessions, with a goal of 8,798
Navy Reserve — 5,584 accessions, with a goal of 5,504
Source: U.S. Department of Defense